Social Media Marketing

How to Leverage Employee Advocacy Programs?

Social Media platforms provide you access to people that matter the most for your business. Getting your employees involved in social media marketing is a strategy that is increasingly growing and equally rewarding. Ergo, it makes sense for a company to invest in an employee advocacy program that leverages employees'…

By Shrishti Jain
November 19, 2021

Social Media platforms provide you access to people that matter the most for your business. Getting your employees involved in social media marketing is a strategy that is increasingly growing and equally rewarding. Ergo, it makes sense for a company to invest in an employee advocacy program that leverages employees' personal networks to engage their consumer base from various touchpoints and also establish the employer brand to simplify inbound recruitment. Here's how you can take account of your workforce's potential to convert them into domain experts that influence conversations on social media:

What is it all about?

Employee advocacy is the promotion and elevation of an organisation by its workforce. It positively impacts sales growth and brand reputation. In addition, it helps build a strong internal team, enhance your culture, and boost recruitment efforts. Employee advocacy happens when workforces are empowered and engaged, utilising their personal influences to eagerly and actively promote their company's brand on their personal social media handles. Introducing an employee advocacy program won't just end in a much more engaged workplace, but you will also exhibit a company growing faster and working with much more efficiency. Employee advocacy also presents opportunities to drive brand recognition, boost engagement and referral traffic, generate new leads, and source potential hires, all through the trusted voice of employees.

Why is it important for your business?

To efficiently compete in today's marketplace, your business must uncover opportunities like Employee Advocacy. It has the twofold benefit of advancing your core business objectives and developing the bond with your employees. A business' employees, including the sales staff – represent both one of your greatest and also one of your most cost-effective resources. It has a positive impact on sales and growth because of increased positive perceptions and brand awareness. It also impacts 'human capital' by improving staff recruitment, retention, and engagement. People tend to believe in an 'average' employee more than the company's CEO. A study [] shows that content shared by employees receives 8 times the engagement of content shared on a business's social channels.

How to Inspire Employee Advocacy?

Leveraging your employees to spread the brand's message further across their own social networking handles is a no-brainer. However, you need to follow a few tactics to get your employee advocacy marketing efforts rolling. Firstly, it's critical to develop a high-trust culture and meet employee expectations for social impact. Nothing cultivates faith and loyalty in your employees, like allowing them to share information. Align your advocacy campaign with your company's primary business goals. Once the goal is clear, pick which social media metrics to track. These might include a share of voice, website traffic, new leads, etc. Tap employees who are natural social media users and are enthusiastic about working for the company socially. Engage them in defining the company's campaigns and goals. They can help learn what kinds of tools other employees are most likely to use and share.

Tips to Encourage Employee Advocacy

Your company's social handles are for interacting with customers and clients, sharing with the world, and securing a brand presence. But it's your employee's social relationships that can actually magnify your brand's visibility. By gamifying the employee advocacy program experience, you make it fun for employees to participate. As a result, they look forward to the rewards and incentives, which drive them to share more on social media. Make sure to encourage your employees to provide feedback as well by allowing open communication and collaboration in the company's social media campaigns. Also, clarify that your company encourages getting involved but doesn't force it. You must ensure that the program is easily accessible for all and show that getting involved in it is mutually beneficial, not just one-sided.

Measuring Impact of Advocacy Programs

To measure social media success:

Calculate the expected gross result, not individual results.
Rather than running after each and every employee's statistics, encourage a comprehensive mindset shift by making this a team effort.
Calculate social media's contribution to website visits, find out if there is a constant yet steady improvement in the percentage of website traffic sourced to social media at large.

Furthermore, by measuring the average number of social interactions per page, post or blog, you can track if there is a significant increase in engagement with the website's content pieces due to more staff involvement. Over time, you will be able to ascertain if the number of new followers per month on the company's page has increased or if that rate is accelerating with added staff engagement.

Final Words

Employee advocacy programs via social media have become a natural and essential progression. A well-planned and structured advocacy program allows sharing resources and recommendations among the staff to amplify your brand's revenue and sales through social media platforms. Employee advocacy entails consistent efforts, but the payoff is huge. Businesses that are not utilising their employees' social networks are surely missing out on a big opportunity to expand their reach and build brand awareness. However, with suitable direction, motivation, and recognition, your business can unveil the power of its most significant asset and reap the rewards of employee advocacy.